Top+Websites

=Top Websites=


 * 1) [|Library of Congress: American Memory Collection] - this website has an excellent collection of primary resources. Primary resources are important to include in the curriculum so that students get exposure to real evidence of life from the past. There are a variety of topics in the collection that are categorized by event, era, person, culture, and government. Not only are there historical images, sound recordings, videos, maps, documents and other primary sources, but there are also suggestions for using those resources, lesson plans, and ready-made presentations and interactive multimedia.
 * 2) [|Annenberg Learner] - this website was created for teacher professional development and classroom resources across the content areas. The goal of the website is to assist educators in American schools to improve their teaching methods and increase their expertise in their fields. Video workshops are categorized by discipline and grade, and teachers can choose topics of interest within each different workshop to view. With this capability, time is saved because teachers can focus on one portion of the workshop that they find valuable or useful, instead of going to a workshop may last for days. All multimedia centers around research-driven data and best practices.
 * 3) [|CosmoLearning] - this educational website serves as a free universal portal for learning, as its goal is to provide a free online school. This website was created by two siblings who wanted to organize supplemental content that supported what they were learning in class into an easy to use environment for their use. It features video lectures, courses, documentaries, books, quizzes, lecture notes, and other learning tools, which are all categorized within 36 academic and 7 extracurricular subjects. This is a great site for locating multimedia for educational use because, currently, there are 482 courses, 1,737 documentaries, 1,290 videos, and 1,342 images.
 * 4) [|TeacherTube] - I was familiar with this website before I took this course, but had never actually used it to find resources for my classroom. This site serves as an online learning community in which teacher instructional and professional development videos are shared. Videos created by both teachers and students can be found, along with audio, photos, and documents. The resources on this website, especially the videos, can be used as a visual to support or extend the content that is presented in class, or as an example of student work in various content areas.
 * 5) [|American Rhetoric] - This site features an enormous collection of famous speeches from both past and present. I would encourage students to use the text, audio, and video from this website to analyze the mood and ideas of famous individuals and events. Also, this site would be useful to model effective speeches or teach the fundamentals of public speaking.
 * 6) [|YakkYakk.com] - This website features a series of three-minute podcasts, called Word Up, which are posted every Tuesday and Thursday. These podcasts serve as short vocabulary lessons as Desmond Ortega introduces two “smart words,” gives their origin, defines them, tells you the different ways that the words can be used, and gives examples of their use in everyday language. This would be a great vocabulary-builder for students and could be used in conjunction with a world wall. I plan on using this site as a warm-up for my students before WKCE testing to build their vocabulary, and as a review of roots, prefixes, suffixes, how to change words into different forms (noun, verb, adjective, adverb,etc), and using context to figure out word meaning.
 * 7) [|Google Earth Gallery] - this website is a gallery of Google Earth kmz files, and lists the latest and best imagery that can be used in Google Earth. I would use this site to find images, information, data, and trends about topics that I teach in my science class, such as earthquakes and other natural disasters, fault lines, volcanoes, and endangered species, which can be portrayed and tracked using the Google Earth program. Imagery choices are not limited to science topics, so other content areas can use this website for resources as well.
 * 8) [|Science Netlinks] - this website, a partner site of Thinkfinity, includes resources specifically for science, the content area that I teach. On this site, the sections I would use most often are “Lessons” and “Tools.” Lessons and tools are organized by Benchmarks for Science Literacy (science literacy goals developed through Project 2061) or broken down by grade level appropriateness (K-12). In the “Lessons” section, there are many different learning experiences with Internet readings, images, and worksheets, which are useful if teachers are trying to figure out ways to incorporate technology into their classrooms. In the “Tools” section, teachers can find a variety of interactive multimedia activities and games that include a description of each resource and a summary of how to use it. Both the tools and lessons section incorporate a wide range of multimedia activities, such as videos, online readings, and simulations.
 * 9) [|Internet4Classrooms Virtual Field Trips] - this site is a comprehensive tool that can be used to learn about virtual field trips, because it gives information about planning, guidelines, and evaluation of the tips. It also includes a list of virtual fieldtrips that are organized by collection, geology, or individual. I would use this site before taking my kids on a virtual field trip or creating one for my classroom so that I could review the do’s and don’ts of VFTs, view a sample permission slip so that I can create my own, and make sure that the field trip meets all of the criteria on the evaluation form.
 * 10) [|Teacher’s Guide to Fair Use and Copyright] - this website’s name states its purpose concisely-- it is a website for teachers that introduces and defines fair use and copyright in simple terms, and states the law’s implications for teachers. Educators can read about challenges and professional responsibility that those in the field face in regards to copyright. The fair use chart that can be found on this site is especially helpful, because it is an organized document that outlines work/materials to be used and the fair use restrictions for face-to-face teaching that apply to those works.